


Moonlight Mountain Madness

by scifinut



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Humor, Mountaineering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2012-12-01
Packaged: 2017-11-19 22:57:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/578536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scifinut/pseuds/scifinut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You remember that trip to the Himalayas that Torchwood was sent on? Yeah, this is just a few minutes from it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moonlight Mountain Madness

**Author's Note:**

> Another "I finished NaNo, give me something short to write" prompt. The full prompt was A full moon over the mountains. No beta, all mistakes are mine. Sadly, the characters are not.

Gwen paused for a moment to enjoy the beauty around her. To be fair, her head was spinning a bit from the thin air and a break wouldn't hurt anything, but the view was worth taking in.

"Break time," Owen said behind her. She unstrapped her bag and dropped it gently to the ground enjoying the way her shoulders and back straightened when she did so. It was still early in the afternoon and they had several hours of light left to get to the small village that was just over the next ridge, it wasn't worth pushing themselves to collapse.

"Just look at that," Tosh said, coming to stand beside Gwen. "It's amazing, isn't it?"

Gwen nodded. "Yeah, it is."

They were looking across the valley they had just come from to the neighboring mountain. Above its shoulder the full moon was just rising, large and round. "I'm still not sure why we were sent here, but this alone is worth it. And we're getting paid to get this view," Tosh said. "Too bad we don't have the right photographic equipment to set up and take a shot of what our brain actually thinks it looks like."

Ianto had been standing over Owen as he sat and caught his breath, but the sight of the two women looking out over the moonrise caught his eye. Back at home he rarely let his mind wander, especially to thoughts about his coworkers in anything less than a professional capacity, but here he was struck with how out of place they all were. Those two women, the only thing they had in common being their job, were now sitting on the side of a mountain more than a mile above sea level and watching the moon come out over another one. He was having a hard time keeping up with them through the hike, but they made everything seem effortless. He was once again humbled by the company he kept and realizing how little London trained him for anything.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Gwen asked him. "You look pretty deep in them."

Ianto shook his head. "Just enjoying the view, that's all."

"You'd best mean the mountain and not my arse," she teased.

"Yes, because it's obviously your arse I'm lusting after. It's the only thing that keeps me coming to work," he deadpanned in response. Gwen stood gaping at him and Ianto gave her a small smirk and a wink before stepping up to stand between him and Tosh. "This is beautiful, though."

"Yeah, what are we even doing here though? Don't we work for England or something?" Owen called out from behind them. "Last I checked, we had no stake in any of the Himalayas."

"Andrew Irvine and George Mallory might beg to differ," Ianto replied. "Then again, unless you can commune with spirits and they've wandered a bit, it's hard to say for certain."

"Smartarse," Owen muttered. "Okay, water and food, then we keep going. We're on a timeframe here."

"Who left you in charge?" challenged Gwen. "I think we can take a nice fifteen minute break now and still be fine."

"Irvine and Mallory. See, I do commune with spirits, and they do wander. I'm in charge, and they said we need to get our arses in gear before they freeze off."

With a minimum of grumbling the other three sat down to rest and divide up their rations for a quick break before continuing the trek while the moon continued to crest the mountain and watch over them.


End file.
